Just saw a post on Facebook from a nephew..."took the day off to drink beer!" Wow who does that. He just got married, and had a baby girl. Funny how I wouldn't have thought a thing about that till i sought recovery. Just sounds soooo stupid. You can drink beer any day. Sorry just had to vent the insanity!
This is my first year living in the Irish settlement of STL and the streets are closed today for the St. Patricks day parade and "party." As I left for work at 7:30 am, there were already people waiting to get into the pubs, which open at 8 am today!!
Yesterday, the city dropped off a bazillion port-o-potties.... the local news is all camped out... like it's all so normal. I wonder what everyone thinks they're actually celebrating...?
It's funny, I just don't notice this stuff any more, mebbe 100 of my friends on FB are no sober, and I see their updates and it doesn't even blip on my radar
who takes the day off to drink beer?
young people normies alcoholics
sometimes people just have fun spontaneously sometimes that activity includes drinking, some people can drink responsibly, some people can drink irresponsibly responsibly, just no me
I just had a big eye opener many years after I got sober when I went to a good friends 3 day bachelor party with 15 or 16 men I partied with in middle school, high school and college aged years, I was dead certain every single one of these men was alcoholic, I mean we RAGED those years
first night (we were camping) a bottle of tequila went around, guys drank beer, smoked pot, at 11 someone yawned said "I'm going to bed" everyone got up, washed dishes, cleaned the camp, and when I woke up at dawn the next moring everyone was already gone, either fishing, biking etc (I had made it very clear anone who woke me before dawn for so called "recreational activities" would get to re-enact Deliverance first hand)
second night, same thing, same bottle of tequila made the rounds, 11 bedtime, 1130 lights out everyone sleeping
third night the same bottle of tequila went around again
OK, a couple things, if I was drinking that bottle and a few more would have been drunk the first night, there would have been a fist fight, two brothers would have gotten drunk and cried because mommy loved you better or someshit, someone would have fallen in the fire, guaranteed
because I caused others to drink like I did in order to not drink alone, without my influence, this so called group of "partyers" talked about things like misdirected grief, relationship issues, tibetan buddhism, I mean they were grown ups, and not alcoholic, and this was a 3 day bachelor party in the woods, if there was ever a venue for alcoholic stupidity, this was it, after seeing this, and traveling repeatedly in Mexico on surfing road trips I learned that everyone who gets picklefaced drunk on occasion is not in fact an alcoholic
so this stuff just doesn't even apear on my radar any more, took a long time though, for many years I was convinced everyone who drank, or everyone who partied was an alcoholic, turns out I was sorely deluded and it was a waste of time and energy
__________________
it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
After soooo many centuries of drinking there is (for me) no longer any wonder why there is still a need for "special occasions" to drink...Amazing that justifications still are needed. Of course then outside of the program I did need them myself.
There is a conscience in it all isn't there? LOL
As for the terminology "Drinking Responsibly" I have to laugh there also considering that I found out that what I was drinking was mind and mood alterning and deadly to the drinker or others within the area of the drinker. Manufacturing, distribution and sales don't have instructions on the units that say what "responsible drinking" is nor do they have any warning at all including keeping the chemical away from children. Some try to warn pregnant women but most won't do anything that negatively affects their financial bottom line.
I participated in one Irish weekend drinking event in the early years and that was a major demonstration on the aspects of power drinking. Yes I went on to do my very own until I was done...I am grateful to my God and the program to still be done.
Jerry F wrote:As for the terminology "Drinking Responsibly" I have to laugh there also considering
that I found out that what I was drinking was mind and mood alterning and deadly to the drinker or others within the area of the drinker. Manufacturing, distribution and sales don't have instructions on the units that say what "responsible drinking" is nor do they have any warning at all including keeping the chemical away from children. Some try to warn pregnant women but most won't do anything that negatively affects their financial bottom line.
Fire can either warm your house, cook your food, or burn down a city
it doesn't come with instructions either, but if I burn myself on a hot stove more then once, or if I burn down my house, I am the one misusing it, I am the one with the problem
Digitalis is a deadly poison or a life saver in moderate doses to people with a certain type of heart condition
The Coca plant makes possible "local anesthesia" which make many operations possible, or if used recreationally one can fit an entire house up their nose
The list goes on and on, deadly poisons when used correctly benefit mankind, when used incorrectly bring death and destruction, alcohol is one such substance, the problem is not in the substance but how it's used
Some people shouldn't drink, I am one of them, for me to say no one should drink is me playing God pure and simple and deciding I know what is best for everyone else, which at best is delusional, and at worst megalomaniac
Personally I agree with what the founders of AA wrote in our 12th step upon founding AA about "other peoples drinking"
We are careful never to show intolerance or hatred of drinking as an institution. Experience shows that such an attitude is not helpful to anyone. Every new alcoholic looks for this spirit among us and is immensely relieved when he finds we are not witchburners.A spirit of intolerance might repel alcoholics whose lives could have been saved, had it not been for such stupidity. We would not even do the cause of temperate drinking any good, for not one drinker in a thousand likes to be told anything about alcohol by one who hates it.
So yes, I think -some- people can drink responsibly, I know many hundreds of these strange creatures myself
__________________
it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
Heard in my group therapy this afternoon: "I used to think that St. Patrick's Day gave me an excuse to get drunk... even though I apparently didn't need any excuse every other single day." LOL.
I know what you're saying Susie. I occasionally see posts or Status' on FB that talk about drinking, some of it very normal and some of it very irresponsible. I find myself 'taking note' of these and then remember just how thankful I am that I am sober.
Ya know whats strange for me is that I dont ever remember drinking green beer on St. Pattys day. I remember drinking on this 'holiday', but dont know why I never drank green beer. I drank everything else Im sure, lol.
And, dont know how many days I took off to get drunk ... I didnt know how sick I was back then. I thought I was 'cool'. It was all about me and what I wanted.
